What germs lurk at the makeup counter?

Germs left behind by double dippers can give you more than the makeup you wanted.

Germs left behind by double dippers can give you more than the makeup you wanted. (Joos Mind, Getty Images)

Alison BowenChicago Tribune

Swiping eye shadow at a makeup store seems harmless -- but is it?

The tiny container of eye shadow to sample looks harmless. But a quick swipe of a fresh color in a store cosmetics aisle might last longer than you intend.

Makeup counters and shops are filled with young women peering into mirrors, trying on mascara or dabbing on a bit of blush. But these quick dips can be germ carriers.

Dermatologist Toral Patel, owner of D&A Dermatology in Chicago, said that after trying on makeup, patients have arrived in her office with pinkeye, cold sores, bacterial infections and boils.

The beginnings of a staph infection might hide in a makeup pot. And pinkeye could come from mascara someone else had just used.

"It's not you," Patel said, "it's the people before you."

It's impossible to know whether the previous sampler washed her hands after using the bathroom — or, before swinging by the store, ate a sandwich touched by someone else in a food court.

Viruses, like the herpes virus that causes cold sores, need a human host to survive, Patel said, but they can last long enough on lipstick to travel to someone else.

"It can happen anywhere," Patel said. "It's not a matter of the neighborhood drugstore versus a high-end department store."

If you must sample, Patel said, it's better to apply on your wrist or neck — a spot that's not as noticeable below the jawline — should your luck run out. And never, ever, dab around an open sore or a scratch.

If there's one thing Patel advises avoiding, it's applying near eyes, where skin is more sensitive.

"I tell patients you should never try mascara on in the store," she said.

Even if an applicator is single use, she said, all it takes is another person draping it across their lashes.

"The minute someone dips their tester in there more than once, it's no longer a single-use tester," Patel said.

Patel herself doesn't try on makeup in stores — "not anymore," she said. Instead, she notes, many stores are flexible with returns, allowing you to try at home.

Alternately, ask the person at the counter if he or she can sterilize an applicator. They should have an alcohol spritzer, which kills germs.

Many shoppers obviously are unaware: At a makeup store recently, a brush was available to try on a foundation, and nearby, a shopper tapped some powder on her wrist. A woman told her companion, "You should try it!" while perusing the lipstick aisle, with tissues to wipe off colors available. An employee applied eye shadow to a man sitting on a chair.

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Keri Germain, a makeup artist at MAC Cosmetics, said the staff takes health safety extremely seriously — after all, they don't want bacteria near them either.

A fleet of workers stands ready to monitor any makeup trials. Their arsenal of anti-germ equipment includes disposable spatulas, a spritzer with a special cleaner, including alcohol, tissues and hand sanitizer in every store.

Any time someone moves to try a product, makeup artists jump in to help them apply, Germain said, making sure they don't dip anything twice.

"Sometimes we ask, 'Have you already tried this one before?'" she said. If there is any sense that they've snuck in twice, they trash the product, she said.

Disposable wands are used for trying lip glosses. Bronzers and eye shadows are wiped down with a tissue. Cream products are doled out with a spatula.

"You never double dip," Germain said. "You don't double dip with strangers; you don't do it at the makeup counter either."

Any returned products aren't resold, Germain said. Store personnel destroy any item a customer has brought back, even if it doesn't look like it's been touched. "We just don't want to take the chance," she said.

For people sampling products in other stores, Germain advises scanning for hand sanitizer and cleaning spray.

"Look for some form of a cleanser or anything that's in a pump or spray bottle," she said. "Make sure there're tissues nearby, anything that could be easily disposed of and constantly be replenished."

Most alarming to her patients, Patel said, is the news that the end result of trying a fresh color or lip gloss can be, in extreme cases, discoloration or scarring — not the beautifying they were going for.